"ITN broke new ground and changed the landscape of news broadcasting by launching 5 News back in 1997," said John Hardie, the chief executive of ITN.

"We are delighted to be working with Channel 5 again and we see the evolution of its news service as a major pillar of our output.

"This significant contract win reinforces ITN's important role in the UK's media landscape and reiterates our position as the pre-eminent producer of commercial television news."

Channel 5 director of programming Jeff Ford added: "Over the last six years, Sky News has provided a news service which has helped to place Channel 5 at the forefront of public service news distribution.

"As we enter our second year under new ownership and with recent boosts in ratings and overall audience share, we continue at pace as a competitive terrestrial broadcaster.

"Through this new deal with ITN, we have a partner which will help to take us into the next phase of our news distribution and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership."